Selection committees vote to expand NCAA Tournament to 76 teams

The NCAA shook up the college basketball landscape by making its decision on expanding the men's and women's tournaments official on Thursday.

According to reports, the men's and women's hoops committees have approved expanding the NCAA Tournament to 76 teams. The proposal still must go through the basketball oversight committees and D1 Board of Directors and Board of Governors, but all signs point toward an expanded bracket for March Madness.

This comes after news broke that the NCAA had reached the final stages of getting the proposal officially approved for the 76-team tournament. According to ESPN, multiple top NCAA officials reportedly met with media partners to finalize the expansion.

All sides reached an agreement, including updated media contracts. The committee had been considering the expansion for more than a year, but the decision was stamped and sent to the next level for implementation.

As a result of the new expansion, the eight teams added to the field would compete in the current First Four play-in round. The expanded NCAA Tournament will feature 24 programs playing 12 contests over two days. Those winners will then join the other 52 teams in the first round. Per CBS Sports' Matt Norlander, 16 seeds and half of the 15 seeds will be involved in the initial 24-team field. The final 12 will be a mixture of 11, 12 and potentially 13 seeds.

For the Texas A&M Aggies, the expansion creates an increased opportunity to reach the postseason and compete among the field, dependent upon success during the regular season. Aggie men's basketball head coach Bucky McMillan led his 2025-26 squad to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in his first year at the helm, while the Lady Aggies fell just short of securing a spot in March Madness, and instead competed in the NIT.

Thursday's decision from the NCAA could be the first of many expansions in this new era of college athletics, as college football looks to add up to 24 teams in the CFP in the near future.

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This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: Selection committees vote to expand NCAA Tournament to 76 teams